Cries of the Gods
by EnforcerAJ
Summary: The Goddess has perished, having withered away long after the new Cocoon was successfully raised into the sky. However no one noticed her absence, for someone was forced to take her place just moments after her demise keeping the chaos at bay in the world as it was. Nearly two centuries later though and the balance of the world is threatened once n our reborn heroes save it?
1. Prologue: Choice

_**Prologue: Choice**_

The boy kneeling before her throne was eighteen, most would say he was barely a man. Oh but he had gone through so much, his innocence had died when he was thirteen. He had witnessed the murder of his twin sister and gotten the blood of her killer on his hands that very same day. Now five years later he knelt before the Goddess Etro in Valhalla with a corpse in his arms.

"Goddess Etro, if you're there, I ask of you…Is there any way for you to save her? To give her another chance at life?"

The deceased he held wasn't his lover or even a friend. No, she was an enemy. She had tried to kill him twice, yet here he was wanted her to be brought back to him. She could see the guilt in the young man's eyes, guilt and blame for her death. He had tried to get her to change sides, convince her that she was on the wrong one. She had been killed because of it, killed because she had spared his life in the end.

The Goddess glanced upon the timelines as she materialized on her throne before this man. She saw that if she granted his request, then she would indeed change her alliance for good. He would slowly fall for her and lay down his life for hers multiple times. They would become friends, then lovers. Enemies turned friends turned more. It made her smile, but she couldn't grant his request for nothing, everything had a price in order for balance to be maintained.

"Are you willing to give up your life for hers?"

He stiffened at once and she could tell that he was about to reject her immediately, but she continued before he could speak.

"Give your life force to her and under my power you shall receive another."

He relaxed when she finished her statement, but there was still uncertainty in his eyes as he began to consider it.

"And she'll live?"

"Yes. She will be free, she will have a soul."

"...And I'll still be alive as well?"

She nodded at him and watched as he gulped and glanced down at the girl in his arms. He took a few moments, gathering his thoughts, then sighed to calm himself before glancing back up at her.

"All right."

At once his younger sister begged him not to, for she too was in her realm, had followed her brother. He turned and snapped at her to be quiet, making her flinch and shut her mouth, then he turned back to the goddess.

"Go ahead then..."

"Are you sure with your decision?"

"Yes..."

He took hold of one of the girl's lifeless hands in his own and closed his eyes. That was her cueand she began the transfer of his life to hers. At once he gasped in pain as his life flowed into the girl, but in an instant both transfers were over. The girl was once again alive and breathing, stable with his life force, and she had given him a small sliver of her power to keep him alive as well. She had marked him; her symbol in a warm glowing crystal over his heart.

"Thank you Goddess..."

"Be warned child, for you are still mortal. You will still age and die like everyone else, as can you also die from injury or illness."

He nodded, thanking her again as he bowed his head and rose to his feet. She created a rift for them to leave her realm, but she had sealed his fate. A year later she would grow weak and perish, and the boy along with her...


	2. I Dimah

_**I Dimah**_

"Dimah..."

The voice came across as a mere whisper that echoed towards him, but he still heard it loud and clear all the same. It was his cue to awake from his crystal slumber, so as he opened his eyes, the crystal stasis shattered and faded. He groaned softly, stirring from his resting place in Valhalla as he looked down at the girl who had woken him.

She was no more than just a wandering spirit of a mortal, one he had let be upon her request. She had died at twenty, so that's how old her transparent ghostly image looked, though with her pink wavy hair in two low pigtails, she could probably pass for younger.

"How long has it been Ashling?"

He rubbed his eyes and stood up from what had been Etro's throne as he spoke. It was now his and had been his since the Goddess had died and transferred her power to him. _He_ was the new god.

"It's 700 AF now. You've been asleep for eighty five years."

She had no direct, formal tone towards the god and didn't even kneel or bow respectfully, but he didn't care much about the formalities of his godhood with her. However, he had frowned once he heard what year it was.

"What's the state of the mortal world?"

A sleeping god for many decades meant that no one was keeping tabs on the balance, but he had little choice in the matter. However it was the year alone that made him feel uneasy. 700AF...In the original time line the world had been on the brink of dying.

"It's a bit unstable..." She began, staring down at her feet. "Slowly falling apart..."

The young god slammed his fist down on the armrest of his throne, making her flinch and glance up at him at once.

"Why didn't you awake me sooner then?!"

He had given here two precise conditions upon awaking him and one of them had been at first sight of the world being too out of balance.

"I swear I didn't realize it was that bad for a while! I was looking for _them_ the whole time and I finally found them!"

The young god's anger quickly faded hearing the news that had been the other condition. He sighed, folding his hands as he smiled softly. So they had finally been reincarnated...

"Time to go to work then."

* * *

"You're staring again~"

The silver haired intern flinched at the teasing voice beside him, blush having crept into his cheeks as he turned away from the certain female, pink haired soldier that had been walking by and smacked his friend with some rolled up papers.

"Shut up Rain!" Hope hissed in a whisper, but the other male only chuckled in response, shaking his head with a smirk.

So to get him to quiet down, the intern flicked off Rain's standard black Guardian Corps cap, knowing it would get to him. Sure enough the laughter had ceased as he caught the hat and slid it back on his head of pink, _*(could use a comma here)_ fluffy locks, tucking his braided platinum blonde hair extension underneath it so it would stay out of sight.

"All right, all right I get it. I'll shush."

"You're the one that's older than me so you should act like it," Hope lectured, giving another lighter smack with the roll of papers.

Hope and Rain had only been friends for a couple of weeks, Rain having been his new roommate in the college dorms, but it also had been a lucky coincidence that they both had jobs at the Academy as well. Hope as a young intern, silently wanting to work his way up to the top and see if all the rumors of corruption that were going around were true…and if they were, put a stop to them at once.

Rain on the other hand was a part of the Academy Security Regiment, only a Private in the Guardian Corps, and a private person he was so far to his silver haired friend. While he did come off as kind and caring most of the time, he was also quiet and didn't seem like one to open up very well.

"You're eighteen, I'm twenty, not much of a difference,"Rain said with a slight eye roll, plopping down at the empty desk beside Hope, slightly spinning in the chair "You're only three years younger than the Sergeant~"

Naturally that earned him another smack from the papers, but Rain only smirked.

"It's obvious you have a crush on her, I don't know why you bother trying to hide it."

"Don't you have work to do?" Hope grumbled under his breath, clearly avoiding the questionand trying to focus on wrapping up his own work for the night.

"At this hour no, I just figured I'd wait for you to be done and walk back with you."

"Sorry Rain, but I'm gonna be here for a while, better just go without me."

That made the pinkette sigh a bit, but he then nodded and got back to his feet. "Don't stay up too late now, don't wanna over work yourself, or fall asleep in class tomorrow," he reminded before he left.

* * *

Though in reality Rain didn't leave, instead he went right for the Director's office, knowing full well that it would be deserted at this hour. For the most part the halls were empty too; it was after hours after all. Of course no one would stop him. Anyone would assume he was still on the clock and doing security rounds. The trick was to act natural after all and since he knew where all the cameras were hidden he was able to avoid most of them. Getting into the Director's office would have been a bit tricky…if he didn't already know the password to unlock the door. It was only natural for him to smirk as he slid inside, softly closing the door behind him and hearing it automatically lock again. Not a single disturbance, and since he had gloves on, there wouldn't be any trace of fingerprints.

"Now then to see just what has been going on here…" he muttered, going right for the Director's PC, ready to dust off his old hacking skills and hoped that he still got it.

But of course his luck wouldn't have it. He heard the door unlock moments later, making him flinch and glance up. Sargent Farron herself had walked in, probably to grab something for the Director himself since she was his personal bodyguard, but right not that didn't matter in the slightest. The moment they made eye contact she reached for her weapon at once, and in a panic Rain began gathering up a bit of paradox energy, creating a rift behind him and slipping through before she could get a good look at him.

With an exasperated sigh, he closed the rift right behind him, having arrived in Valhalla in one piece. Resting his forehead against a pillar beside him it took him a few moments to calm down, heart still racing. That had been far too close for comfort. How much longer could he keep this up?

"I've been God for so long that I've forgotten how to be mortal…"


End file.
